Child
by Aisling-Siobhan
Summary: HarryDraco – When Harry first met Draco he was a child. The first time Draco can remember meeting Harry, he was still a child. When Harry finally notices Draco… they could still be considered children.


Hey here is a new one… It's a one shot, I just split it into chapters for each time-jump. Hope you enjoy it.

"**Child**"

**Disclaimer:** **_I do not own anything HP related. It all belongs to JK Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Inc., Warner Bros., and any other entities involved_**… But I own the storyline!

Some of the 3rd Chapter is taken from HP and the SS.

The poems belong to Morris Bishop "We Have Been Here Before" and William Blake "The Clod & The Pebble" in that order.

**Summery:** Harry/Draco – When Harry first met Draco he was a child. The first time Draco can remember meeting Harry, he was still a child. When Harry finally notices Draco… they could still be considered children.

**Rating:** T!! (or so) SLASH!

**Warnings:** Slash, Child Abuse, Language, Character Death

**A/N:** I hand wrote this… during my computer absence time-period and I hope I get it written up on the 24th all in one go or I'll never finish it… it's 13 a4 HAND pages long… here goes nothing!

_XXX_

**Total Words:** 3,430

**Words:** 556

**Child 1**

It's been said, though I can't remember by whom, that there is nothing more innocent than the pure driven snow than a child. However, it is said, by Mr. and Mrs. Dursley that, there is nothing as horrid and contemptuous as one particular child, and the rest of his freakish kind.

The child in question was Harry Potter and he wasn't a freak; far from it. Harry Potter was a very special boy. He was the only person to ever survive the Killing Curse: a curse that needs no explanation. Five years ago, on October 31st, Mr and Mrs. Potter were murdered, with the very same Curse their son survived, by Lord Voldemort.

Harry had rebounded the Killing Curse onto Lord Voldemort and destroyed his mortal body. His immortal soul was thrust out into the world, exposed and endangered, and so, for the time being, Lord Voldemort was defeated. Thus made Harry a hero, and a saviour and the Boy-Who-Lived. But most importantly Harry Potter was an innocent child.

Now Mr and Mrs. Dursley didn't see things that way. Because the Potters' went and got themselves blown up, Mr and Mrs. Dursley were saddled with their worthless nephew, because Mrs Petunia Dursley just happened to be the Muggle sister of Mrs Lily Potter.

Now if it wasn't bad enough that the Dursley's hated the Potters, they took it out on the innocent child.

Mr Vernon Dursley was petrified of anyone who was different. He hated things he feared: spiders, Jews, Black people, the French, Homosexuals, bachelors and Magical folk, among the list. And Harry Potter just happened to be a Wizard – while he wasn't in any of the other categories, just one defect was enough for Mr. Dursley to despise a person for life.

Mr. Dursley was a fool. He was grossly over weight, with a dead squirrel on his upper lip that doubled as a moustache, a receding hairline and jowls that wobbled and turned purple when he shouted. Mrs. Dursley wasn't all that great looking either. Where her husband was short and squat, she was ungainly, tall and far too thin. She had a pale, pinched face that looked as if she had been sucking lemons, and wispy, lifeless brown hair.

And she was dead jealous of her younger sister. Enough to hate her son in his mother's stead. Completely forgetting he was only a child.

At 6 years old, Harry Potter was the most well-mannered, best-behaved child in the world, but nobody really noticed Harry all that much unless he needed to be punished. People were always too busy fawning all over Dudley, Harry's cousin, who Mrs. Dursley was forever showing off. Why she'd want to, I'll never know. Dudley Dursley was the ugliest child you'd ever set eyes on, but to the Dursley adults he was even better than the Baby Jesus. After all, if they stopped talking about their special 'Diddydums' they may have no choice but to mention their God-awful nephew.

From the time he was born, Harry had been as cute as a button and as intelligent as something really clever. The polar opposite to Dudley. And Mr and Mrs. Dursley hated him for it.

And that brings us to the start of our story. About one child who met another, many times before they really knew each other.

_XXX_

**Words:** 929

**Child 2**

Tonight was Halloween 1986, and Harry Potter was locked in his cupboard under the stairs. Dudley was dressed in a pumpkin suit that was a tad too small for his bulky frame and made him look like a garish beach ball. Mr and Mrs. Dursley were dressed as respectable well-to-do people and were taking Dudley out trick-or-treating.

The 'freak' was being left at home. And he better not do anything 'freakish' or Mr. Dursley's belt would make him regret it.

With a sigh, Harry Potter wished he had a fairy-godparents, or a mother, or a father, or even an elder cousin three times removed, who would come and take him away from Number 4, Privet Drive, Surrey, forever.

Harry didn't keep wishing for long, the ability to believe in magic or miracles had almost been beaten out of him by now.

Harry knew he could do strange things but he preferred not to think about it least Uncle Vernon realize he was thinking about it and get his belt out. As long as Harry could wish for things to happen, a small part of Harry wished for someone to love him. And no matter how high his hopes got when the doorbell rang, or how fast his heart broke when he realized it was one of his Uncle Vernon's 'friends' at the door and not a new parent, Harry kept wishing.

And right now he was wishing his cupboard door would open, and he'd be able to find something to wear outside.

He wasn't planning to knock on anyone's door encase they told Mr and Mrs. Dursley, but Harry desperately wanted to see what Halloween was all about. That way he wouldn't be as jealous of Dudley as he always was.

With a click, the lock on the outside of the cupboard door opened. Harry hesitantly pushed the door open and poked his head outside, praying his Uncle didn't forget something and come back for it. No one came to investigate the noise, and when Harry peeked out of the front window the car was gone. Who drove trick-or-treating anyway? A pile of clean clothes lay on the floor of the bathroom in Harry's size. He noticed hem when he went to wash up. Sometimes he loved being a freak.

When he was finished dressing he looked in the mirror and frowned. He was wearing a pair of black suit trousers and a white shirt and a pair of shinny black shoes. It didn't look like any Halloween costume Harry had seen before, but that was because he was standing on the finishing touches.

With a sigh Harry picked up the long black dress off the floor and pulled it over his head. Straightening the sleeves, he thought this was the stupidest thing he ever wished for. A dress!

But what Harry didn't know was that he was wearing a Wizards robe, and later that night he would meet a child who was dressed the exact same way.

Draco Malfoy was a Wizard of 6 years old who was born to extremely rich Pureblood parents. To be Pureblood means to have no Muggle blood in your family whatsoever. The Malfoy's were very proud of this, and Mr. Malfoy looked down on Mudbloods and Muggle-loving Wizards every chance he could, and taught his son to do the same.

Draco Malfoy was incredibly spoilt. If Draco wanted to trick-or-treat with Muggles his mother wouldn't dare say 'no' encase Draco threw a temper tantrum. And so, Mr and Mrs. Malfoy were forced to escort their son through Muggle Surrey of all places on he 31st October 1986.

Now, as proud Pureblood folk, the Malfoy's would not dream of acting like Muggles and dressing up in pumpkin suits like that obese blond boy over there! Instead they wore their Wizarding robes. Mr. Lucius Malfoy wore forest green, his lovely wife Narcissa wore silver and Draco wore plain black: no sense staining a good robe with candy.

If Harry Potter was looking where he was going he would have noticed the family of three wearing dressed and not have walked into them. Unfortunately poor Harry was overwhelmed and was looking around desperately for the Dursley's least they spot him first, and he walked right into Draco Malfoy. The platinum blond haired child hit the floor with a 'thud' while Harry looked on mortified.

From what you have heard of Draco Malfoy, you wouldn't be faulted f you guessed he began to cry and scream and shoot hexes at Harry. But he didn't.

See, as he fell, Draco Malfoy had caught a glimpse of Harry's scar – shaped like a lightening bolt and hidden beneath his fringe. The only proof that Harry had been hit with the Killing Curse.

"You're Harry Potter!" Draco exclaimed, standing up.

"Y-Yes," Harry stuttered shyly. "Do you know my cousin?" He asked, for that was the only reason Harry could think of that the other boy would know his name.

"No, sorry. Is he a Wizard too?" Draco drawled having regained his composure.

"No, he's a pumpkin," Harry said, not having understood the question.

Draco laughed softly before offering Harry a lazy grin, "no, I meant can he do magic, like us?"

Harry frowned, "magic doesn't exist," he said softly, sadly. Without saying 'goodbye' Harry turned and began to head back to Number 4, Privet Drive.

Behind him the Malfoy's watched with equally confused expressions on their faces. Then thy shrugged and pushed the incident from their minds. After all, Harry Potter was nothing to them but a dead enemy's child.

_XXX_

**Words:** 874

**Child 3**

It was 5 years before Harry and Draco ever saw each other again. It hadn't taken Draco five hours to forget the other child. But Harry didn't forget, Harry couldn't forget. Those people spoke about magic and wore those dressed like it was ordinary. Maybe, maybe Vernon Dursley was wrong, maybe magic did exist? Well Harry found out for certain on July 31st 1991. Harry Potter was 11 years ld and had just received his Hogwarts letter.

Of course Mr. Dursley wasn't too happy. In fact his whole face had turned purple and he ripped Harry's letter up before throwing the chid head first into his cupboard.

It was only after Harry received about 100 more letters that Mrs. Dursley decided 'those kind' were spying on them. And so, they gave Harry Dudley's second bedroom.

That of course did not mean that Harry was going to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But 100 more letter – this time addressed to the Dursley's hide-away-hut – and a visit from Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Grounds and Keys at Hogwarts, meant Mr and Mrs. Dursley no longer had a say in Harry's schooling.

Happily, Harry visited the Wizard shopping district, Diagon Alley with Hagrid. After visiting 'Gringotts', the Wizarding bank, they headed to 'Madam Malkins Robes for all Occasions'. And this fine establishment was the setting for the children's next meeting.

You must remember that while Draco forgot Harry, Harry remember Draco very well.

When Harry noticed the pale, blond, pointed faced child standing on the stool beside him he grinned. And when Draco did not smile back, he frowned.

"Hogwarts too?" He asked with a lazy drawl, his eyes roaming Harry's frame trying to decide whether the brunette child was worth his notice or not.

"Yes," Harry almost whispered, his heart plummeting. Draco Malfoy – the person who had kept him hoping that magic was real for five long years – didn't remember him at all!

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," Draco drawled. Harry, of course, remembered Draco's parents too. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms." The more Draco continued to talk, the more Harry thought he sounded like Dudley: spoilt, arrogant, greedy, a right pain in the arse.

Madam Malkin came back and dismissed Harry just as he was reaching the end of his patience. "Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," Draco waved lazily. Harry left without saying 'goodbye' again.

To be honest, Draco can't be held entirely responsible for how he behaved. After all, what are children but a reflection of their parents? And Draco's parents had never taught him any better. In fact, Draco's parents thought the way he acted was the best way to act.

Draco had no idea he meant so much to Harry, nor would he have been able to understand why, had he remembered. After all, Draco had been raised with magic, so he would have been unable to empathise with Harry.

Sometimes, unknowingly, not meaning to be, a child can be the cruellest of all creatures. And it's so hard to hate them for their cruelty because, after all, they're only a child.

September 1st 1991 was when Harry and Draco next met. Harry made friends with a Pureblood boy from a Muggle-loving family named Ronald Weasley. The two were happily introducing Harry to the wonders of Quidditch when the train compartment door slid open, and three boys walked in.

Harry recognized Draco Malfoy at once.

The blond grinned at Harry, and the brunette thought maybe Draco remembered him. "Is it true?" He asked and Harry's eyes narrowed, "they're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?" He drawled, completely ignoring Ron Weasley.

The two boys behind Draco were thickset and stupid looking, but Harry stared at them to keep himself from looking at Draco. "Oh, that's Crabbe and that's Goyle," Draco said when he noticed where Harry's attention had strayed.

In true Draco Malfoy fashion, the blond continued to talk about himself, and inadvertently upset Harry by insulting his only friend.

"I think I can tell who the wrong sort are for myself, thanks," Harry said when Draco gave him a minute to get a word in. Now Harry hadn't meant to hurt Draco, but I already explained how cruel children could be. And nothing is more cruel that a child who had been hurt. Draco hurt Harry's feelings, and in return Harry hurt Draco.

This pattern continued for most of their school life, with each child taking shots at one another, until Draco's father got arrested and Draco was forced to grow up. During their 6th year, Draco was too busy doing Lord Voldemort's bidding to continue tormenting Harry.

Of course Draco had grown in other ways as well, and now found himself having erotic dreams about Harry. And soon realizing he had fallen in love with the child.

But Draco had other, more important things to think about right now. And so, Draco Malfoy was responsible for the death of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and he was absolutely terrified.

Because, no matter how much he had grown up, he was still a child.

_XXX_

**Words:** 1,053

**Child 4**

While Harry Potter disappeared to go hunting Horcruxs, Aurors captured Draco Malfoy, and Severus Snape ran for his life, leaving Draco alone. Lucius Malfoy, from his cell in Azkaban Prison, offered his services to the Order of the Phoenix in exchange for his son's freedom.

Harry Potter had been unanimously voted in as Order member leader after Dumbledore's death, and as he was feeling particularly generous, he had Mr. Malfoy freed from Azkaban and placed under Order surveillance. Draco was allowed back to Hogwarts for his last year of schooling.

But of course Draco was responsible for Dumbledore's death, so the Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors hated him. And he had failed and betrayed Lord Voldemort, so the Slytherins hated him. The only friend he had that year was his father – who was replacing Snape as the Defence Professor (as Slughorn was staying on to teach Potions).

It was the morning of February 14th 1997, when Harry Potter finally noticed Draco Malfoy grew up. No longer did Draco sneer in Harry's direction or tell jokes to Crabbe and Goyle at his expense – mainly because the two idiots now flanked Blaise Zabini and were responsible for Draco getting beaten up once a month. And no longer did a crowd of worshippers surround Draco, and this year Draco Malfoy received not one single Valentines at breakfast (when, for all other years, he had more than anyone else).

The blond ate nothing, and starred quietly at his plate while Mr. Malfoy looked on from the Teachers Table, and Draco's House Mates teased him mercilessly.

One tear escaped down Draco's cheek unnoticed by anyone but Harry, and that was all it took. With the feelings that accompany maturity, Harry Potter left the Great Hall.

That same day at lunch, more owls flocked in with Valentines gifts and cards. But this time, a snowy white owl landed right in front of Draco Malfoy. Eyeing the bird warily, Draco prepared to run from the room. But the owl didn't attack him, and the letter didn't explode, so he hesitantly removed the parchment from Hedwig's leg.

He unrolled it, listening with half an ear to the snickers around him: the Slytherins obviously thought this was someone's idea of a joke.

"_Dear Draco, _

"_I think I remember this moorland,_

_The tower on top of the tor,_

_I feel in the distance another existence:_

I think I have been here before.

"_And I think you were sitting beside me, _

_In a fold in the face of the fell,_

_For Time at its work'll go round in a circle,_

_And what is befalling, befell._

" '_I have been here before!' I asserted,_

_In a nook on the neck of the Nile._

_I once in a crisis was punished by Isis,_

_And you smiled. I remember your smile. _

"_I had the same sense of persistence_

_On the side of the seat of the Sioux;_

_I heard in a tepee the sound of a sleepy_

_Pleistocene grunt. It was you. _

"_The past made a promise, before it_

_Began to begin to begone._

_The limited gamut brings you again. Damn it,_

_How long has this got to go on?_

"We've been here before Draco, but I'd like it to end differently this time. 'Hello, my name is Harry Potter, pleased to meet you.' Will you shake my hand?

"_Happy Valentine's Day Draco!_

"_P.S. No this is not a joke planned by the Gryffindors to humiliate you. Bye then." _

With a shy smile Draco looked towards Harry ho waved back calmly. Draco pulled a sheet of parchment from his bag, and a quill, and wrote; _"Will you got to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"_ before giving it to Hedwig the owl. Across the Hall, Harry just nodded. Ron Weasley looked horrified, but Hermione Granger smacked him over the head to shut him up.

And that was the start of a beautiful friendship.

Which became much, much more in time. After all, Draco was already in love with Harry.

On February 17th, during their trip to Hogsmeade, Harry had to try very, very hard to ditch his overbearing friends so he and Draco could be alone for a while. When they finally got a moment to themselves, Draco thrust a piece if parchment into Harry's hand and turned his face away.

Harry read quietly as Draco's cheeks flushed pink.

"_Love seeketh not itself to please,_

_Nor for itself hath any care,_

_But for another gives its ease,_

And builds a Heaven in Hells despair.

"_Be my Valentine?" _

Draco muttered embarrassedly, "Sorry it's late." He paused, "I couldn't think of what to say."

With a small smile, Harry caught Draco's chin and turned his face towards his. "Better late than never," he laughed and pressed his slightly chapped lips to Draco's mouth. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Mr and Mrs. Malfoy were told shortly after and they were absolutely thrilled Draco was happy, and Narcissa Malfoy remembered Harry from Halloween 11 years ago, which made Harry blush and Draco apologize for forgetting.

Mr and Mrs. Dursley now referred to their nephew as the 'faggot freak', because he now fit with two of Mr. Dursley's hated categories. But Harry didn't care anymore.

And where I leave you is at Malfoy Manor, just after the defeat of Lord Voldemort – Draco Malfoy turned out to be the 'power he knows not' but that's a different story. At this moment, Draco is sneaking out of his bedroom and into the guest room where Harry was sleeping. It was bad manners for unmannered couples to share a bed in a guest's home, after all.

Slipping into the double bed, Draco wrapped an arm around Harry's waist. "I love you," he whispered and closed his eyes.

A few minutes later Mr. Malfoy went searching for his son, and not finding the blond in his room Lucius went to check Harry's.

His mouth was already open to question the brunette when he noticed the blond lying on top of the blankets behind his boyfriend. With a smile, Lucius magiked the blanket over Draco and Harry and pressed a kiss to each of their foreheads. As he shut the door behind him, he smiled once more and went to bed.

No matter how much you grow up, when you are sleeping, you're as innocent as any child is!

**The** **End**

Hey all, thanks for reading. I will try and update some of my WIP fictions soon, but it's easier for me to hand write brand new fictions rather then follow on chapters. Sorry.

Please review…


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